Bear Trap
by Lanie L Sullivan
Summary: What might Dotty have heard while she was at the Agency in OBD, OBD? This is a little tagalogue for that episode.


Disclaimer: Scarecrow and Mrs. King is owned by Warner Brothers and Shoot the Moon. No infringement is intended.

**AN: **Just a short extended tag for One Bear Dances, One Bear Doesn't. Thanks to Clagjanet and CindyDee for being my sounding boards on this one.

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"Can you believe that after all we went through, the kidnapping, the chasing and the endless hours of questioning me, they had the nerve to blindfold me? They handed me all this hoopla about 'national security' and how I couldn't know where their office was located, blah, blah, blah..."

"Well, Mother, I'm sure they were just doing their jobs," Amanda attempted to placate her mother.

"But didn't it bother you not being able to see where you were going when they did that?"

"Me?" Amanda's eyes widened. "I...uh...I wasn't there."

"No?" Dotty stared at her daughter disbelievingly.

"No. Why would I be?"

"Because you were there too, held hostage right alongside Dr. Zernov and me. Wouldn't they want to question you too, especially since you tried to be a hero and get us out of there and all?"

"Well...I...uh...I guess maybe they just thought you were the more important witness since you were the one dating Dr. Zernov. Besides, I did give my statement to the local police," Amanda shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe that was enough for them."

Dotty's look of disbelief quickly turned into a disapproving frown at how easily the lies just rolled off her daughter's tongue. She took a deep breath as she tried not to lose her cool and devised a plan to catch Amanda in her own web of lies. "Hmmm...it's funny that you say you weren't there because I just know I heard your voice when they led me down the corridor. You know you do have a very distinctive voice and as your mother, blindfolded or not, I would recognize it anywhere."

Amanda paled as she scrambled in her mind to figure out how her mother could have heard her voice when she'd been in a soundproofed room with Lee listening in on her mother's debriefing. It wasn't possible, was it? _She said the corridor, _an inner voice reminded her. She thought harder trying to piece together the events of the day. She remembered after they'd wrapped things up, she and Lee had left the room to give her mother and Dr. Zernov a moment of privacy to say their goodbyes and were discussing their latest attempt at dinner plans.

"Nothing, Amanda?" Dotty questioned when her daughter was silent for too long.

"You know, I...uh...I really don't remember. I mean, so much happened..." For once, she was being honest. She truly couldn't remember any moment during the time her mother was at the Agency that she could have overheard her talking with anyone.

"You have no recollection of that?" She grinned at her. "Well, let me refresh your memory then. You were speaking with a man and it sounded to me like he was asking you out and that you used me as an excuse to get out of it."

"What?" Amanda gaped in surprise at her mother. How could she possibly have heard that? She reflected back on the events of the day.

_"And she has a very special daughter too," Lee crooned in his low, seductive tone as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. They exchanged affectionate smiles just before Lee took her arm to lead her out of the room. _

_"Where are we going?" she questioned. _

_"I just thought it might be nice to give your mom a chance to say a proper goodbye to her boyfriend in private. As many times as we've been interrupted when we've tried to be alone together, I thought...well, I thought it might be nice not to do that to them."_

_"Oh, come on," she scoffed as they walked down the corridor together. _

_"Okay, I admit it, maybe I just wanted to get you alone for a minute."_

_She gestured to the people walking up and down the corridor and argued, "We were more alone in there." _

_He paused in mid-step and used his hand on her arm to turn her to face him. "Well, I mean, you know, upstairs where there are no cameras and we're away from your mother._

_"Oh?" She soon found herself lost in the twinkling of his eyes. She'd learned early on that that was evidence of his flirtatious mood. _

_"Yeah. Um...when we were in there and I said I had something to talk to you about, it wasn't really about you going off by yourself - although we did need to talk about that - you just assumed I was going to yell at you for it, but what I really wanted was to ask you if you were free for dinner tonight."_

"_I would love to…" Her voice trailed off as she tried to figure out how to put her thoughts into the right words without making it seem she was giving him the brush-off. After all, he'd only recently started showing some real interest without backpedaling after the fact. _

"_Why do I sense a 'but' coming?" he queried as if reading her thoughts. _

"_Oh…Lee. There is a 'but'," she admitted. "BUT it doesn't mean that I'm not interested. It's just with all that's happened in the past twenty-four hours, I really feel I should stay home with Mother tonight. With her having to say goodbye to Dr. Zernov, I think she could use some grown-up company. _

"Earth to Amanda!" Dotty's sharper-than-normal tone startled Amanda out of her memories.

"Yes, Mother?" Amanda replied in what she hoped was a nonchalant manner.

"Have you heard a word I said?" When her daughter only returned a blank state, she went on, "The man? You called him Lee, so I can only assume it's the same Lee who calls here all the time. The one you work with?" She shot the younger woman a questioning look.

"Okay, yes, we were there," Amanda confessed.

"Was that so hard?"

"We-ell, yes." Remembering Billy's order to her mother to keep things quiet, she decided to use that to her advantage. "I was sworn to secrecy about that whole mess. I'm sure you were too." She gave her mother a stern look of warning.

"That does make sense," she conceded.

Amanda breathed a sigh of relief, however, that feeling was short-lived when her mother uttered, "But.." turning that sigh into one of defeat instead.

"Yes, Mother?"

"I have just one more question. I understand why you were there since you were on that little adventure with me, but why would your gentleman friend have been there?"

"Oh!" _Think, Amanda, think. _"He…um…well, Mother, he was there too. I mean, not with us where we were being held against our will obviously or you'd have seen him, but he was trying to help me find you and to get help when those phony policemen took off with you."

"How did he even know about it? Unless you two were already together at the time, perhaps on a date?" she probed.

"I called him to ask for his help when I was so worried about you."

Dotty picked up the phone to hand it to her daughter. "Call him again."

"What for?"

"To accept his dinner invitation. Any man who would go to that length for a woman he cares for has to be something special."

"He is pretty special, but you…"

"…Don't need a babysitter," Dotty finished for her. "I'm a grown woman…and so are you. You should start taking care of your own needs for a change, so let me be the babysitter instead of the babysat." She again pushed the phone toward her daughter. "Call him."

Amanda smiled. "Okay, I will. Thank you."

Dotty watched for a moment as her daughter dialed her beau's number by heart and quietly slipped out of the room to give her some privacy just as she was saying, "Hi, Lee. It's me. Are you still free for dinner?".


End file.
